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Kiyoshi Kato 27cm

[I tried to be just honest here, Im not in any kind of business relationship with Maksim, im just one of customers for last three years or so, im picky and take much of his time, while never buy too much, so not a perfect customer either! Im sure he doesnt like me so im double happy I could order this from him ]

But i promised this detailed review of the knife for Maksim, that doesnt mean i will hide any of my thoughts about the product. I dont want ony of you to buy it, If you feel like

The knives fat. It really is fat. It also has the sexiest tapering line from heel to tip Ive seen on any blade, maybe apart from the kiritsuke tip yanagi from Suisin [not even the tapering but the way the blade bend upwards]

It is 6mm of steel at where the tang meets the handle, it is 300grams of weight, I didnt measured but I can, and I easily believe its true.
This takes some time to get used to, and use it to its best potential, but its worth the time.
Its 55mm tall, and edge length exceeds 27cm. Or it did until I broke the tip like twice already
I received the knife new, no saya to pick at, decent handle, I really like the burnt chestnut and that its regular D shape. Mounted by Maksim neatly. Nothing to pick at really.

In many ways I think this knife is magic. Read below and youll find out why.

First impressions? **** its heavy. **** its big and heavy. But instantly you get the urge to cut stuff to prove the knife wrong. It must fail, that bastard, and it does not. Very frustrating
Immediately Im cutting potato - chop chop job done. "OK, will fry chips tomorrow" I think to myself, and I destroyed 5 more potatoes because of this ******* knife!
Really weir feeling the first time you pick it up.

The finish
Many improvements since Ive seen the first ones Maskim had at the june class. The spine is very nicely rounded, oh hell its very good.
The choil needs more work though,
The finish of the blade is OK, nothing spectacular. Very very even.
I think the cladding is very hard, not so soft, cause there was not much difference in colour or surface polish between "jigane" and "hagane",
and the reactivity is damn low, about which I will write later.
The kanji though, is just amazing. Its done by hand, and I dont have any clue how he does that, but its pleasure to look at.
I of course dont know what it all means but doesnt matter really.

The important stuff are

The Steel
Its great. It is resistant to my efforts on the stones, even though the knife is quite thin above bevel.
The cladding is tough, I think, but little thinning to check the grind and it goes well.
Wouldnt really say you could go for it with a stone, Ive used DMT, and then just polished the scratches out with jns 1k
But thats the weird part about it. Its relatively fast to sharpen, yet retention is amazingly good.

And I say that after I killed it in one day and chipped the hell out of it with oxtails
But when youre not a dumbarse like me, it just stays sharp. I think I used it for four days now, it might be three, I dont remember, but it still can do some damage to my fingertips if i do the 3 fingers test [the same that the 17 th generation helicopter pilot and airborne machine gun shooter uses ]

Feedback both when sharpening and when cuttig is really nice and carbon, like its alive.

The edge
As i said, this is the only blade I use ohira on. I usually dont, cause I like plenty of bite, but some polish also, especially that I use chefs knife as an allrounder.
So the second sharpening I just stand there in my kitchen "lalala" sharpen it and dang there it is it just went right through the fingertip just by the gentle touch. I dont really know how it happened, I just thought "oh you mother******" and stropped.

So I was like yeah its OK edge the one you would call "good enugh" and I went to work the next day, could help mysef but to cut tomato with it - and you know just as i did the first slice... You know not much slicing motion and not much feeling of any resistanceand all that stuff... Ive cut one more slice and stopped there.

The Retention

As above, I measured when I would kill it, and it definitely is possible in one shift. Hitting the bone I guess is not what any kind of cuttig edge likes really, and it reminded me that it still is a kitchen knife, not a bone-saw. [Ive cut those thfrough joint, of course, but you know]
When cutting the regular stuff, at home or at work, it goes down from the initial sharpness very smoothly and slowly, it not like kilo of carrots and huge degradation.
And I use quite hard plastic board at work.
Another thing is, that apart from these chips there was no microchipping, just like dullness.
After that, the knife just gets along

The Performance

I would lie if i said it does not stick to anything and flies through everything like the sword mr Yoda gave me. Its rubbish.
True is, that as a matter of fact not much sticks, really.
But there is stuff, which will stop the blade in motion. Not much though, maybe due to blades weight?
Stuff like really dense potatoes. Stuff like huge onions.
Stuff that was peeled and soaked in water, wedges. But the blade doesnt stop, nor it changes direction. Its crazy, but if you want to cut straight down thats where this knife is going.

And plus it has the attitude, you know? Its like its eager to get the job done, happy to cut stuff and thats why I like to pick it and work with it. This is why i like it and give it high notes. It is a true workhorse.

One more thing I noticed lately was that its not only vegetables, take cooked meats, like pigs side/belly/bacon. Usually a knife would stick a little somewhere along the cut, but this thing just drops down through.

Little movie and pic of it at work, it was last sunday making the mep for oxtails. The company was closed so there was only me and my mep.

The Grind

Think about it, its a fat slab of metal, yet is cuts amazingly well. You can see the pic here, it shows you how the grind looks like.
It works just fine if you ask me.
Not much can add apart from its well done. No high/low spots or stuff. That was the reason I thinned it a bit, to check hows things above edge. All in order. Plus it responded very well to thinning.
Very even throughout the blade, from heel to tip

The tip is quite thin and it helpes in delicate work, if you have to do it with that sumo wrestler.

The Balance

Is about 5cm from the handle, very blade heavy, but thats the way I like it actually.
There is not much force you need to put into cuts, plus the grip is comfortable which makes for great feeling when in use.
It sounds like This knife is heavy but holding it and working with it you get so good feeback from it, that you easily forget about the size.

The Reactivity

In the Ittetsu review you could read about the parsley chopping, then listen to this. On the sunday I recorded the video about veg chopping, I chopped some parsley as part of mep. It supposed to get used up on monday, but actually I used it on thursday [!] and there was no discoloration at all.
There is some brown colour visibe with onions, but not much smell. You really have to smell the blade to get that its carbon.
Now, its patinated a little, especially after cutting up some hot chicked and sausage but really not much.
Totally miles away from Shigefusa.
Is that the steel used or the heat threatment i dont know but it sure works.

The Conclusion

I was thinking I dont need much after Shig, but I needed that.
It can handle everything, be both gentle and aggressive and doesnt stink.
Not much of any improvment I could want to get in any department

The finish 7-
The Steel 9++ i dot really want to give it ten cause maybe there somewhere is something even better?
The edge 9
The retention 9+
The performance 8+++
The Grind 9
The balance 9
The reactivity 9+

The spine on that thing is crazy! It's very apparent in the vid(nice work btw). I've always wanted a thicker spine on my knives in general, but I've been afraid of the effects on overall performance... Hmmmm... No! I'm finishing the work on my Ichimonji Chukas, getting that suji rehandled, and ordering a custom Ginga chuka- No More Gyutos! Dammit bienek!

I m waiting on a 240 and will compare to my 240 Shig, so far it looks really promising.

Do that, and share your thoughts, is yours to arrive soon?
I really wonder how its going to get received

Originally Posted by brainsausage

The spine on that thing is crazy! It's very apparent in the vid(nice work btw). I've always wanted a thicker spine on my knives in general, but I've been afraid of the effects on overall performance... Hmmmm... No! I'm finishing the work on my Ichimonji Chukas, getting that suji rehandled, and ordering a custom Ginga chuka- No More Gyutos! Dammit bienek!

Another great review. When you said you didn't measure it did you mean the weight or thickness? If you get a chance, can you take some measurements of the spine? I'd love to hear what the taper measures just to get a better idea. Thanks again

Chuck I meant the weight. I havent checked at work but the knife is plenty heavy.
I was measuring the blade and the results are almost same as Maksims, If you wish I can write it up. Yeah I will do it.

Oh and sorry for the exxagerated sound effects in the video. I tried to gain it out a little but it came up pretty messed up.